Newcastle Falcons’ Alesana Tuilagi captained Samoa as they booked their place in the Pacific Nations Cup final.

The winger led them to a late 21-20 triumph over Canada in Toronto, a result which means they will now meet Fiji in Tuesday morning’s final in Vancouver.

Fellow Newcastle wing Sinoti Sinoti started for the Samoans in the BMO Field encounter, Falcons lock Kane Thompson rested for the tournament as the islanders experiment with some of their fringe players.

Newcastle had two players in the Tonga side which defeated USA 33-19, Tane Takulua starting at scrum-half and Uili Kolo’ofai packing down at lock-forward.

Newcastle’s Eric Fry came on for the last half-hour, the loose-head having started the previous two games for the Eagles.

The upshot of the result is that Tonga now enter the third-place play-off on Monday’s finals day in Vancouver, kicking off at 10pm UK time against Japan.

Samoa’s grand final match with Fiji is a 1am start on Tuesday morning UK time, both games being streamed live on the World Rugby website.

Meanwhile, former Newcastle Falcons prop JP Orlandi has been drafted into Argentina’s squad for their Rugby Championship clash with South Africa in Durban a week on Saturday.

The 32-year-old made seven Premiership appearances for the Falcons last season before being released, and joins Newcastle’s Juan Pablo Socino in the Pumas’ 26-man squad.

Socino shone on his test debut in Mendoza last weekend despite Argentina being beaten by Australia, the Kingston Park favourite having started the game at inside centre.